Green magnetite nanocomposite sheet using coprecipitation loading method as a wave absorber in RFID applications.

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EM wave absorber had been used to solve the RFID interference problem when it is used in near metallic environment. Synthetic polymeric matrix from various cellulosic pulps were used to produce wave absorbers with magnetite as its main reinforcement using two different approaches namely lumen loading method and in situ coprecipitation method. Since both methods were a successful in terms of green technology and cost reduction, this study focused on enhancing the previous two methods by introducing a new developed method called as coprecipitation loading method. Besides that, the exploration of the compatibility of paddy straw and recycled paper as the magnetic sheet matrix also was done to add the green technology value. Result obtained reveal that paddy straw and recycled paper are very good candidate to be embedded with nano magnetite particles thus conforming its compatibility to be used as a substrate to produce the wave absorber. All three loading methods have good degree of loading around 18.4% to 34.4%, and VSM data also shows that the magnetic wave absorbers exhibit good superparamagnetic behaviour. The proposed method consume less power to be produced compared to the previous methods thus contributes to green environmental effects. All samples were tested in the HF RFID application near to metallic environment showing great performance in alleviating the interference problem and recover up to 60% of the distance detection by comparing to the commercial wave absorber. By using the loading methods and substrates proposed, this research contributes to the production of Green Magnetite Nanocomposites Sheets using substrate from paddy straw and recycled paper pulp combined with magnetite nanoparticles. Besides that, the introduction of coprecipitation loading method also enables magnetic sheet to be produced using less energy compared to previous methods. Lastly, samples produced indicate that the green magnetic wave absorber do perform its main purpose in the RFID application near metallic environment.

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First and foremost, I would like to take this opportunity to dedicate my most modest and sincerest gratitude to the almighty ALLAH s.w.t.. In His will, He gives his humble servant the opportunity and ability to complete this study. Despite the obstacle faced, His will also allows me to gather all information and make the right analyses to complete this research and thesis. Next, I would like to make a special acknowledgement to my dearest supervisor, Dr. Rose Farahiyan binti Munawar from the Faculty of Manufacturing Engineering in the department of Engineering Materials and also the co supervisor for her, this thesis is able to be finished thus making a great contribution in its field.

I also would like to express my deepest gratitude to my lovely mother, Rohani Mardi, my dear father, and my dear late grandmother, Allahyarhamah Zainab Kassim, for their moral support that makes me always in motivated mode to pursue my dream. Without their support, I can never see the end of this study and will never make it until the end.

Special thanks also to all my dear friends, Nursharafina Zainol, Nadiah Hamid, Fariza Fuziana Yacob, Muhd Hafez Mohamed, Fevilia Nurnadia Adria Syaifoel, Mazlin Aida Mahamood, Anisah Abd Latif, Muhammad Kazimi Muhamad for without them, my study days will be dull and lifeless. Special dedication also to Mr. Jeefferie Abd Razak and Mr. Hairulhisham Rosnan for their help and support throughout the whole progress.

iv

1.1 Background of Study 1

1.2 Problem Statement 3

1.3 Objectives of Study 4

1.4 Scope of Study 4

2.1 Chapter Overview 6

2.2 Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) 6

2.2.1 RFID Principle 7

2.2.2 RFID Problem In Metallic Environment 9

2.2.3 Detuning of Metallic Surface 10

2.2.4 Solution for Metallic Environment 10

2.3 Wave Absorber 11

2.3.1 Radio Wave Absorber 11

2.3.2 The Mechanism In Wave Absorber 12

2.3.3 Relationship of Permittivity and Wave Absorber 13

2.3.4 Performance of Wave Absorber 14

2.4 Iron Oxides 15

2.4.1 Magnetic Behavior 15

2.4.2 Hysteresis Loop 17

2.4.3 Type of Iron Oxides 18

2.4.4 Magnetite 20

2.5 Magnetic Paper Production 21

2.5.1 Lumen Loading Technique 22

2.5.2 In situ Method 23

2.5.3 Magnetic Paper Properties 25

2.6 Biodegradable Fibers 28

2.6.1 Paddy Straw 28

2.6.2 Recycled Paper 30

3.1 Chapter Overview 31

v

3.2.1 Paddy Straw 33

3.2.2 Recycled Paper 33

3.3 Magnetic Paper Production Methods 34

3.3.1 Lumen Loading Method 34

3.3.2 In situ Coprecipitation Method 36

3.3.3 Coprecipitation Loading Method 37

3.4 Testing and Analysis 38

3.4.1 X Ray Diffraction Measurement 38

3.4.2 Morphology Analysis 39

3.4.3 Degree of Loading 39

3.4.4 Magnetic Measurement 39

3.4.5 Power Consumption Calculation 40

3.4.6 Dielectric Testing 40

3.4.7 RFID Performance in Metallic Environment Testing 41

4.1 Chapter Overview 42

4.2 Raw Material Characterisation 43

4.3 Phase Analysis 45

4.4 Morphology Analysis 47

4.4.1 Lumen Loading Method 49

4.4.2 In situ Coprecipitation Method 50

4.4.3 Coprecipitation Loading Method 52

4.4.4 Nano Magnetite Particle’s Aggregation 53

4.4.5 EDX Analysis 55

4.5 Magnetic Measurement 59

4.6 Degree of Loading 63

4.7 Power Consumption of the Loading Techniques 66

4.8 Dielectric Testing 68

4.9 RFID Performance in Metallic Environment Testing 69

4.9.1 Wave Absorber Influence in Reading Distance of RFID 69

4.9.2 Absorbency of EM Wave 71

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5.1 Conclusion 73

5.2 Recommendation for Future Studies 75

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vi

2.1 Crystallite parameter and average particle size of Fe3O4 prepared 27

at various conditions

2.2 Properties of paddy straw’s fiber 29

3.1 Soda pulping parameter for paddy straw 33

4.1 Magnetic hysteresis data for magnetic paper samples 59

vii

2.1 RFID tags based on near field coupling: (a) a 128 kHz Trovan tag, 8

and (b) a 13.56 MHz Tiris tag

2.2 The perpendicular magnetic field's effect 10

2.3 RFID Communication Malfunction 12

2.4 Improved Communication with a Magnetic Sheet 13

2.5 Reading ranges of HF RFID tags in different conditions 14

2.6 Alignment of individual atomic magnetic moments in different 16

types of materials

2.7 Magnetic domains in a bulk material 16

2.8 Magnetization (M) as a function of an applied magnetic field (H) 17

2.9 Morin temperature of hematite as a function of the diameter d 19

of the particle

2.10 SEM image of pulp fibers showing the circular pits for fillers to 23

enter the lumen

2.11 SEM image of a single fiber cross section showing lumen being 23

loaded with fillers

2.12 Lumen loaded pulp 25

2.13 In situ coprecipitation loaded pulp 25

2.14 XRD diffraction patterns of the Fe3O4 nanoparticles 26

viii

3.1 The flowchart for producing and testing the green magnetic 32

nanocomposite sheet

3.2 Self designed sieve (45 µm) 34

3.3 Green magnetite nanocomposite sheet’s dimension 35

3.4 Illustration of the lumen loading process 35

3.5 Illustration of the in situ coprecipitation process 36

3.6 Illustration of the coprecipitation loading process 37

3.7 Experiment set up for RFID performance in metallic environment 41

4.1 Molded paper samples: (a) Paddy straw paper and (b) Recycled paper 43

4.2 Molded paper samples: (a) Unloaded paper and (b) Magnetic paper 44

4.3 Molded magnetic paper samples 44

4.4 XRD pattern for magnetite and magnetic wave absorber samples 46

4.5 Image of recycled paper’s fiber 47

4.6 Image of paddy straw’s fiber: (a) pits and (b) multi lumen 48

4.7 Image of lumen loading samples: (a) paddy straw and (b) recycled paper 49

4.8 Image of in situ coprecipitation samples (a) paddy straw and 51

(b) recycled paper 47

4.9 Image of coprecipitation loading samples. (a) paddy straw and 52

(b) recycled paper

4.10 Image of nano magnetite particles for (a) lumen loading sample and 54

(b) in situ coprecipitation sample

4.11 EDX spectrum for unloaded paper 55

4.12 Image of lumen and targeted scanned area 55

4.13 EDX spectrum for lumen loaded paper 56

4.14 EDX spectrum for in situ coprecipitation paper 57

4.15 EDX spectrum for coprecipitation loading paper 57

ix

4.17 EDX spectrum for a loaded pit 58

4.18 Hysteresis loop of lumen loading samples: (a) paddy straw and 60

(b) recycled paper

4.19 Hysteresis loop of in situ coprecipitation samples: (a) paddy straw 61

and (b) recycled paper

4.20 Hysteresis loop of coprecipitation loading samples: (a) paddy straw 62

and (b) recycled paper

4.21 Degree of loading for magnetic paper samples 63

4.22 Trend of degree of loading versus magnetisation of the magnetic 65

sheets samples

4.23 Power consumption for producing magnetic paper which LL is for 67

lumen loading, IS is for in situ and CL is for coprecipitation loading

4.24 Maximum RFID reading distance in metallic environment 69

4.25 Trend between reading distance of RFID in metallic environment versus 61

degree of loading

4.26 Trend between reading distance of RFID in metallic environment 72

x

RFID Radio frequency identification

Ms Magnetic saturation

XRD X ray diffraction

FESEM Field emission scanning electron microscopy

VSM Vibrating sample magnetometer

EM Electromagnetic

HF High frequency

M Magnetisation

H Magnetic strength

Hc Coercive force

TC Curie temperature

TN Neel temperature

TB Blocking temperature

TM Morin temperature

EDX Energy dispersive X ray

NaOH Sodium hydroxide

PEI Polyethylenimine

1

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of Study

Radio frequency identification (RFID) is an emerging technology that is increasingly being used in supply chain management. It plays an important role in supporting logistics and supply chain processes because of their ability to identify, trace and track information throughout the supply chain (Zhu et al._{, 2012). Compared to bar code technology, RFID}

gives alignment freedom to customers in detecting goods. The bar code requires the sensors to be aligned parallel with the label while RFID has advantage using long range of radio wave frequency detection.

RFID does not work well with metallic goods because metal will bounce off radio waves causing reading process to fail. In metals, the interference also will disrupt the RFID signals, making the supply chain management that involves with metal a challenge (Adams, 2005).

The magnetic sheet for RFID is a kind of functional composite materials that can absorb an electromagnetic wave. The decay of the electromagnetic signal in RFID system will be effectively reduced by using magnetic interference resistance sheet. Not only that, system detection will perform more and sensitivity will be enhanced (AIC Magnetics Ltd., 2012).

As telecommunication is moving up to high, frequency ranges, the applications of ferrite oxides in the micro,wave frequency region have drawn a lot of attention (Pardavi, Horvath, 2000 and Harris et al._{, 2009). Here, ferrites nanoparticles as filler will be}

2

materials for high,frequency applications due to their high permeability, broad bandwidth, mild conduction, and low cost (Hsu et al._{, 2010). In addition, magnetic nanoparticles are}

good candidates for different electromagnetic wave and radiation absorption applications. For example, magnetic nanocomposites can be used to enhance the permeability of an antenna substrate, which helps in miniaturization of antenna without sacrificing its performance (Koskela et al._{, 2011).}

The magnetic sheets comprise of ferromagnetic materials were developed and verified to be suitable for alleviating metal interference problems in RFID systems (Hsu et al., 2010). Magnetic sheet from magnetic composite are widely used as EM wave absorbers due to its ability to suppress EM interference thus enhance communication signals (Shokrollahi and Janghorban, 2007).

Several studies have been done in producing magnetic sheet as a wave absorber. Shu et al. _{(2010) developed the magnetic sheet by directly coating the ferrite on a piece of release}

paper to form a sheet with the desired thickness. While Oka et al. _{(2007) proposed an}

electromagnetic wave absorbing control technique involving the coating,type magnetic wood. Until now, the development of magnetic sheet using magnetite composite is still less known to be used as a wave absorber applications through filling the lumen of natural fibers with magnetic particles.

Fiber’s lumen loading with particles can be done in two different ways, mechanically or chemically. The mechanical deposition of the magnetic particles inside of the lumen can be achieved by vigorous agitation of the fibers and filler particles (Green

at el._{, 1982). On the other hand, chemical precipitation to produces the magnetic particles}

in the lumen, this can be achieved through in,situ method (Ricard and Machessault, 1990).

Thus, in this study, an alternative method to fabricate Green Magnetic Nanocomposites Sheet as a wave absorber in RFID applications was conducted using several loading techniques. Here, several types of natural fiber were used as a matrix. As expected, this new simple method leads to the formation of Green Magnetic Nanocomposites

3

Sheet that can be used to enhance the performance of RFID antenna tag, which helps to solve the metal interference problem.

1.2 Problem Statement

Most of magnetic composite wave absorber produced by previous researcher used pure ceramic material such as magnetite. It was used due to its excellent properties as a ferromagnetic material at normal bulk size and as a superparamagnetic material when its size is manipulated at nano,scale. However, to use this as pure ceramic material have certain boundaries because of its composite sheet are not flexible and also are very expensive.

Besides pure ceramic, synthetic polymer matrix composite mixed with magnetite filler were also produced due to its flexibility, cost efficiency and compatibility to be used as wave absorber. Most of wave absorber is used in a short term while synthetic polymeric material does not decompose easily in a normal environment. Hence, new materials need to be considered in replacing the polymer in order to promote green technology that can decompose easily. Due to this matter, paddy straw and recycled papers were used to replace pure ceramic material and synthetic polymeric composite to produce the Green Magnetic Nanocomposite Sheet.

Next, previous researcher uses two approaches to produce the green magnetic sheet which is lumen loading and in,situ coprecipitation method. These methods were a huge success, but no research had discussed the power consumption needed to produce the magnetic sheets. Due to that, this research introduces a new approach, which is a hybrid from the previous methods, but uses less energy to produce the same magnetic sheet wave absorber with comparable performance and named as coprecipitation loading method.

4

1.3 Objectives of Study

The aim of this research was to get an insight of the properties of the green substrates as wave absorber and as an introduction of the new enhanced method called as coprecipitation loading technique. The specific objectives of the research were:

i. To develop new synthesis method to produce magnetite sheet called as coprecipitation loading method and compared with lumen loading method and in,situ coprecipitation method.

ii. To compare magnetite nanocomposite sheets using substrate from paddy straw and recycled paper pulp combined with magnetic nanoparticles by lumen loading, in,situ coprecipitation, and coprecipitation loading methods

iii. To study the magnetite nanocomposite sheet wave absorber performance in terms of reading range of the RFID in near metallic environment.

1.4 Scope of Study

The scope of this project focused on two main parts. The first part was on production of the green magnetite sheets. During the production, paddy straw and recycled paper pulp are used to produce the magnetic sheets. Next, these pulp undergwent loading process to deposits magnetic particles into the lumen of the pulp. Three different loading processes are chosen to produce the samples using lumen loading method, in,situ coprecipitation method and coprecipitation loading method. Two of the methods were successfully introduced by previous researcher while the third method, which was coprecipitation loading technique, was the manipulation of the previous two methods. After the green magnetite sheets had been successfully produced, the performance of the magnetic sheets are tested and analysed. Then the green magnetic sheets will be characterised to determine the physical, mechanical and chemical properties using X,ray Diffraction (XRD), Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) and Vibrating Sample Magnetometer (VSM). Besides that, other

5

technique to characterise the samples also were done using degree of loading method and power consumption calculation.

Next, the second stage was to evaluate the performance of the samples. The evaluation was base on the interference of RFID reading process in near metallic environment application. The testing was done by setting up an environment that suit with the near metallic environment. After the environment was set up, the samples were placed accordingly with the tag and reader and the distance performance was evaluated. In order to explain more in terms of the reading range, permittivity testing was done to study on the dielectric properties of the samples and how the near metallic environment mechanism was solved.

6

CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Chapter Overview

This chapter gives an overview on previous research related to this study. It starts with the problem arise from RFID reading process near metallic environment and its possible solution which is by using wave absorber. Then it continues with some properties of iron oxides especially magnetite since this magnetic particle was used in producing the wave absorber. Then, it followed by magnetic paper production process and its properties for it is important to understand the behavior before producing the samples. Lastly, this chapter also reviews on paddy straw and recycled paper since it was used as a substrate in producing magnetic paper.

2.2 Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)

RFID stands for Radio Frequency Identification, a wireless communication technology that is used to track and identify objects or perhaps people that is tagged with a certain identity (Hunt, 2007). There are many applications and few of them are applications in supply chain crate, pallet tracking and in point,of,sale used by ExxonMobil’s Speedpass. Another application is a system used in toll collection system, which can be found at the entrance to bridge, tunnels, and turnpike. Besides that, it is being used as a device in animal tracking, livestock management and to track pets. RFID is also used in immobilizers and vehicle tracking. Exploration of RFID enables it to be used in infant ID and security which is the form of wrist or ankle band.

7

According to Ahson and Ilyas (2008), RFID was first developed by Faraday in the mid,nineteenth century. Between 1900 and 1940, discoveries and development of RFID was made which Faraday had discovered the mutual induction concept, which is the base development for far field tags. In 2007, Moscatiello (2007) stated that RFID has distinct advantages over the barcode. For example, most applications in RFID tag can be detected ʺhands offʺ while scanning barcode needs human intervention. Besides that, RFID tags can be placed inside the packaging or even in the product itself while barcodes must be visible on the outside of product packaging. Other benefit is that RFID tags are not affected by environmental and mechanical effect while the readability of barcodes can be impaired by dirt, moisture, abrasion, or packaging contours and also have better and longer reading range as compared to barcodes technology. Next, RFID tagged items can be read even if they are behind other items, while barcode must have ʺline of sightʺ to read it. Other than that, RFID tags have read or write memory capability which barcodes do not and also more data can be stored in an RFID tag compared to barcodes.

Once the RFID data is acquired, is can easily be managed by legacy software infrastructures implemented for the purpose of supply chain management and barcode inventory control. Besides that, it is even possible to manage RFID data and barcode data on the same platform applications simultaneously (Ahson and Ilyas, 2008).

Since the year 2000, RFID implementation has experienced an annual growth rate of 24%. The rapid growth in the market for RFID will bring its costs down to the point where RFID tags will soon be competitive with printed barcodes. In addition, there are revolutionary new fabrication techniques that further reduce its costs (Ahson and Ilyas, 2008).

2.2.1 RFID Principle

There are many types of RFID that exist, but at the highest level, it can be divided into two classes which are active and passive. The active tag require power source which the tag is connected to a powered infrastructure or use energy stored in an integrated battery. As the technology advanced, a tag’s lifetime is limited by the stored energy, balanced against the number of read operations the device must undergo. An example of an active tag is the

8

transponder attached to an aircraft that can identifies its national origin. Another example of an active RFID is LoJack device attached to a car, which incorporates cellular technology and a GPS to locate the car if stolen (Want, 2006).

Passive RFID is more preferable because it does not require batteries or any maintenance. It possesses an indefinite operational life and it is much smaller in size which can be fit into a practical adhesive label. Common passive tag was build of three parts: an antenna, a semi conductor chip attached to the antenna, and some form of encapsulation (Want, 2006).

Conservation of energy is implemented in passive RFID tag which the tag’s antenna captures energy and transfer to the tag’s ID. Then, this energy will be used by the tag to give information needed by the reader. The outer layer which is the encapsulation secures the tag’s integrity and protects the antenna and chip from environmental conditions or reagents. The common shape of the passive tag has two shape, the first is in a small glass vial such as in Figure 2.1 (a) or a laminar plastic substrate with adhesive on one side to enable easy attachment to goods such as in Figure 2.1 (b) (Want, 2006).

Figure 2.1: RFID tags based on near,field coupling: (a) a 128 kHz Trovan tag, and (b) a 13.56 MHz Tiris tag (Want, 2006).

9

Want (2006) added that, to date, there are two fundamental designs for powering the tag, which manipulate the magnetic induction and electromagnetic (EM) wave capture. These two designs take advantage of the EM properties associated with an RF antenna which are the near field and the far field. Both can transfer enough power to a remote tag to sustain its operation; typically between 10 µW and 1 mW, depending on the tag type. (For comparison, the nominal power an Intel XScale processor consumes is approximately 500 mW, and an Intel Pentium 4 consumes up to 50 W.) Through various modulation techniques, near and far field based signals can also transmit and receive data.

2.2.2 RFID Problem In Metallic Environment

Metal are widely used because of its properties, reusable, returnable, sturdy, safe, protective, durable and “green”. Despite of its good properties, it is hard to manage, if the same type of containers being use for different purposes. This is because, its opacity prevent any viewer to know exactly what is inside of the container. Metal containers and RFID don't mix too well in terms of reading process but can be identified easily using RFID technology with latest mobile asset management solutions (Adams, 2005).

Adams (2005) added that in most phenomena, metal will bounce off radio waves and water will absorb ultra,high frequencies. Besides this, human body will makes a very good shield against RFID signals due to the factor that human body have so much saltwater. In metals, the interference also will disrupt the RFID signals, making the supply chain management that involves with metal, liquid and harsh environment a challenge.

RFID antenna which is attached to metal causes eddy current to generate and absorb RF energy. This eddy current reduces the overall effectiveness of the RFID field. Besides that, it will also create its own magnetic field when it is perpendicular to the metal surface and “cancels” the reader field. This phenomenon is illustrated in Figure 2.2:

1.3 Objectives of Study

The aim of this research was to get an insight of the properties of the green substrates as wave absorber and as an introduction of the new enhanced method called as coprecipitation loading technique. The specific objectives of the research were:

i. To develop new synthesis method to produce magnetite sheet called as coprecipitation loading method and compared with lumen loading method and in,situ coprecipitation method.

ii. To compare magnetite nanocomposite sheets using substrate from paddy straw and recycled paper pulp combined with magnetic nanoparticles by lumen loading, in,situ coprecipitation, and coprecipitation loading methods

iii. To study the magnetite nanocomposite sheet wave absorber performance in terms of reading range of the RFID in near metallic environment.

1.4 Scope of Study

The scope of this project focused on two main parts. The first part was on production of the green magnetite sheets. During the production, paddy straw and recycled paper pulp are used to produce the magnetic sheets. Next, these pulp undergwent loading process to deposits magnetic particles into the lumen of the pulp. Three different loading processes are chosen to produce the samples using lumen loading method, in,situ coprecipitation method and coprecipitation loading method. Two of the methods were successfully introduced by previous researcher while the third method, which was coprecipitation loading technique, was the manipulation of the previous two methods. After the green magnetite sheets had been successfully produced, the performance of the magnetic sheets are tested and analysed. Then the green magnetic sheets will be characterised to determine the physical, mechanical and chemical properties using X,ray Diffraction (XRD), Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) and Vibrating Sample Magnetometer (VSM). Besides that, other

technique to characterise the samples also were done using degree of loading method and power consumption calculation.

Next, the second stage was to evaluate the performance of the samples. The evaluation was base on the interference of RFID reading process in near metallic environment application. The testing was done by setting up an environment that suit with the near metallic environment. After the environment was set up, the samples were placed accordingly with the tag and reader and the distance performance was evaluated. In order to explain more in terms of the reading range, permittivity testing was done to study on the dielectric properties of the samples and how the near metallic environment mechanism was solved.

CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Chapter Overview

This chapter gives an overview on previous research related to this study. It starts with the problem arise from RFID reading process near metallic environment and its possible solution which is by using wave absorber. Then it continues with some properties of iron oxides especially magnetite since this magnetic particle was used in producing the wave absorber. Then, it followed by magnetic paper production process and its properties for it is important to understand the behavior before producing the samples. Lastly, this chapter also reviews on paddy straw and recycled paper since it was used as a substrate in producing magnetic paper.

2.2 Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)

RFID stands for Radio Frequency Identification, a wireless communication technology that is used to track and identify objects or perhaps people that is tagged with a certain identity (Hunt, 2007). There are many applications and few of them are applications in supply chain crate, pallet tracking and in point,of,sale used by ExxonMobil’s Speedpass. Another application is a system used in toll collection system, which can be found at the entrance to bridge, tunnels, and turnpike. Besides that, it is being used as a device in animal tracking, livestock management and to track pets. RFID is also used in immobilizers and vehicle tracking. Exploration of RFID enables it to be used in infant ID and security which is the form of wrist or ankle band.

According to Ahson and Ilyas (2008), RFID was first developed by Faraday in the mid,nineteenth century. Between 1900 and 1940, discoveries and development of RFID was made which Faraday had discovered the mutual induction concept, which is the base development for far field tags. In 2007, Moscatiello (2007) stated that RFID has distinct advantages over the barcode. For example, most applications in RFID tag can be detected ʺhands offʺ while scanning barcode needs human intervention. Besides that, RFID tags can be placed inside the packaging or even in the product itself while barcodes must be visible on the outside of product packaging. Other benefit is that RFID tags are not affected by environmental and mechanical effect while the readability of barcodes can be impaired by dirt, moisture, abrasion, or packaging contours and also have better and longer reading range as compared to barcodes technology. Next, RFID tagged items can be read even if they are behind other items, while barcode must have ʺline of sightʺ to read it. Other than that, RFID tags have read or write memory capability which barcodes do not and also more data can be stored in an RFID tag compared to barcodes.

Once the RFID data is acquired, is can easily be managed by legacy software infrastructures implemented for the purpose of supply chain management and barcode inventory control. Besides that, it is even possible to manage RFID data and barcode data on the same platform applications simultaneously (Ahson and Ilyas, 2008).

Since the year 2000, RFID implementation has experienced an annual growth rate of 24%. The rapid growth in the market for RFID will bring its costs down to the point where RFID tags will soon be competitive with printed barcodes. In addition, there are revolutionary new fabrication techniques that further reduce its costs (Ahson and Ilyas, 2008).

2.2.1 RFID Principle

There are many types of RFID that exist, but at the highest level, it can be divided into two classes which are active and passive. The active tag require power source which the tag is connected to a powered infrastructure or use energy stored in an integrated battery. As the

transponder attached to an aircraft that can identifies its national origin. Another example of an active RFID is LoJack device attached to a car, which incorporates cellular technology and a GPS to locate the car if stolen (Want, 2006).

Passive RFID is more preferable because it does not require batteries or any maintenance. It possesses an indefinite operational life and it is much smaller in size which can be fit into a practical adhesive label. Common passive tag was build of three parts: an antenna, a semi conductor chip attached to the antenna, and some form of encapsulation (Want, 2006).

Conservation of energy is implemented in passive RFID tag which the tag’s antenna captures energy and transfer to the tag’s ID. Then, this energy will be used by the tag to give information needed by the reader. The outer layer which is the encapsulation secures the tag’s integrity and protects the antenna and chip from environmental conditions or reagents. The common shape of the passive tag has two shape, the first is in a small glass vial such as in Figure 2.1 (a) or a laminar plastic substrate with adhesive on one side to enable easy attachment to goods such as in Figure 2.1 (b) (Want, 2006).

Figure 2.1: RFID tags based on near,field coupling: (a) a 128 kHz Trovan tag, and (b) a 13.56 MHz Tiris tag (Want, 2006).

Want (2006) added that, to date, there are two fundamental designs for powering the tag, which manipulate the magnetic induction and electromagnetic (EM) wave capture. These two designs take advantage of the EM properties associated with an RF antenna which are the near field and the far field. Both can transfer enough power to a remote tag to sustain its operation; typically between 10 µW and 1 mW, depending on the tag type. (For comparison, the nominal power an Intel XScale processor consumes is approximately 500 mW, and an Intel Pentium 4 consumes up to 50 W.) Through various modulation techniques, near and far field based signals can also transmit and receive data.

2.2.2 RFID Problem In Metallic Environment

Metal are widely used because of its properties, reusable, returnable, sturdy, safe, protective, durable and “green”. Despite of its good properties, it is hard to manage, if the same type of containers being use for different purposes. This is because, its opacity prevent any viewer to know exactly what is inside of the container. Metal containers and RFID don't mix too well in terms of reading process but can be identified easily using RFID technology with latest mobile asset management solutions (Adams, 2005).

Adams (2005) added that in most phenomena, metal will bounce off radio waves and water will absorb ultra,high frequencies. Besides this, human body will makes a very good shield against RFID signals due to the factor that human body have so much saltwater. In metals, the interference also will disrupt the RFID signals, making the supply chain management that involves with metal, liquid and harsh environment a challenge.

RFID antenna which is attached to metal causes eddy current to generate and absorb RF energy. This eddy current reduces the overall effectiveness of the RFID field. Besides that, it will also create its own magnetic field when it is perpendicular to the metal surface and “cancels” the reader field. This phenomenon is illustrated in Figure 2.2: